Die for rolling steel balls



, (No Model.)

W. H. WRIGHT. DIE FOR ROLLING STEEL BALLS.

No. 439,712. 7 Patented Nov. 4,1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. WRIGHT, OF BUFFALO, NEWV YORK.

DIE FOR ROLLING STEEL BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,712, dated November4, 1890.

Application filed May 27, 1890. Serial No. 353,305- (No model!) To allwhom, it may concern:

-trating my invention.

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. WRIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Dies for Making SteelBalls, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a device that will cut up froma bar of steel or other suitable material the exact quantity of metalrequired for the purpose, and no more, and rapidly form it into apractically perfect and solid ball of a homogeneous 0r uniform texturein every portion of the material, so that when hardened it forms a ballof uniform compactness and strength, all of which will be fully andclearly hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a dieillus- Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, showing the method offorming a true elliptical curve for each side of the die. Fig. 3 is asectional elevation of one of the dies partly finished, showing itsproper position on the faceplate of a turning-lathe while turning thegroove in its periphery. Fig. 4 is also a sectional elevation of a die,showing its required position on the faceplate of a turning-lathe forforming the elliptical sides of the groove. Fig. 5 is a front elevationof the die. Fig. 6 is a rear elevation, and Fig. 7 is a diagram showingthe different positions of the die from the first position when aparallel semicircular longitudinal groove is cut in the face orperiphery of the die to its second position, when a practically trueellipse is given to each side of the die.

To form a true ball by rollingthe metal between two dies, I have foundit to be absolutely necessary that the sides of the dies should be inthe form of as true an elliptic curve as it is possible to make it.

In said drawings, 1 represents the die. The numerals 2 designate theelliptic sides of the same.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown this die adapted to set upon a straight orplane surface, and in Figs. 3 and 4 they are shown curved, which ispreferable, thereby adapting them to be secured to the periphery of acircular disk having one die on the disk and a concave orinwardly-curved stationary die, substantially as shown in my Patent No.400,990, dated April 9, 1889, or it may be used in the form of twooutwardly-curved dies adapted to be secured to the peripheries of twodisks constructed to be rotated so that the dies will pass each other inopposite directions while the ball is being cut from a bar and formedbetween them substantially as I have shown in an application for apatent of even date herewith. I therefore do not limit myself to eithera straight, inwardly-curved, or an outwardly-curved die.

I construct my improved die as follows: When an outwardly-curved die isto be made, a curved piece of metal (the best quality of steel) issecured in any well-known way to the face-plate 3 of a lathe in theposition shown in Fig. 3 and nicely turned up, a semicircularlongitudinal groove 4 being turned in the periphery. The die is nowremoved and tempered very hard, and then replaced and secured on theface-plate 3, so that the pin 5 will be directly under the center of thedie. The die is now tipped slightly, so as to move one end downward andthe other up, substantially as shown in Fig. 7, 8 showing the die in itsfirst position and 9 its second position, it being removed just enoughso that when turned up in the line of a circle of the same radius as itwas when being turned, as shown in Fig. 3, it will cut off a portionsimilar to that shown in Fig. 4, the dotted lines showing the shape ofthe die when first put in, and space between the die and the shown inFig. 1-that is, one-half of a perfect 9 ellipse cut through the shortestdiameter. The die being tempered very hard cannot in this secondoperation be turned by an ordinary lathe-tool. It therefore has to becut by causing the lathe to move it slowly under a rapidly-turningemery-wheel, the operation being repeated, taking a slight out off eachtime until it is complete. The straight die is made in a similar manner,except a planer 5 is used instead of a lathe. Dies of this form act andforce together just enough metal and no more than is required to form aperfect ball of the size the dies are limited to, and it is allgradually forced together with just suf- IO ficient force to condensethe metal equally throughout.

I claim as my invention VILLIAM l-l. \VRIGHT.

Witnesses:

.TAMns SANGSTER, J. E. WEBSTER.

